My dad is a big stanford fan so I watched them in college a bunch. I did not think Brook would be athletic enough to do what he is doing at the nba level, but he has proven me wrong. I always thought Robin would do better without being in the shadow of Brook because he was the more athletic of the 2, hopefully he can become something
LOL are you kidding? First of all Pau is indeed dominant. He's currently the 2nd best big man in the West right now. You just don't know it because like TD, Pau's best qualities don't show in the scoreboard. Secondly Brook will never be as good as Pau Gasol. He's just not athletic enough to be a good defensive player, and unlike Pau he will never be good enough to score against the best players of the NBA. I see his ceiling as a poor man's Bogut.
How is Gasol a dominant player? He's really good, but dominant, I doubt. A dominant player is someone, like a younger Tim Duncan, Charles Barkley, Kevin McHale, or Karl Malone. Gasol's a fine player, but calling dominant is laughable, especially when he is has been know to disappear against tough competition and somewhat of lightweight on defense.
LBJ had Eric snow as his point guard, Gasol had a washed up damon stoudemire as his point guard...what's your point? Every star came into the league with a lousy team,that's how the team got them. Lopez isn't as good as you think he is, the record of his team proves that beyond a doubt.
Well what do you define as dominant? IMHO "dominant" means putting up good stats while playing good D. Big Men are scarce nowadays so that qualifies as dominant for them IMHO. Pau has had a big effect on the Lakers as KG has on the Celtics, and if that's not a case for dominance than I don't know what is. That bolded part may have been true during his early years, but it isn't true now. Pau has had big games against Orlando, Spurs and the Celtics, doesn't that qualify as tough competition? Lightweight on D is just rep imho. The guy's 7'1, has long arms, really agile,and unlike Stoudemire he actually tries on the defensive end. How can he be a lightweight on D?
Since when was Pau such a good defender or particularly athletic? Pau has NEVER been a dominate big man, he is and always has been a second fiddle player. Brook already leads all big men in blocked shots this season and is putting up better numbers than Bogut EVER has.
Just because you're a second banana doesn't mean you can't also be a dominant player. Gasol is clearly one of the best big men in the league right now. No, he can't carry a team but to act like he hasn't been a dominant player most of his career is hardly accurate. Especially right now given how he just put LA over the top.
When you're a big man its not just about the numbers you put up. Its more about how you impact the game. When Pau Gasol has been gone the Lakers went from dominant to just a playoff team. When Bogut was gone the Bucks lost all their games. Even with Brooks playing huge numbers their team managed to have the worst record in history. Gasol and Bogut aren't flashy so you don't know their impact, but having them on the floor makes life difficult on the opposing team. Brooks is a good player, but only against subpar opponents. When he goes up against the good players, his lack of athleticism shows up and he gets owned. Also unlike guys like Bogut, his lack of athleticism agains prevents him from playing good D.
Bogut has NEVER played on a good team, the bucks have had a horrible stretch since he got there. ANd where do you get that he is a bad defender? Pau is not a great defender at all or athletic. Pau was a good #2 guy who put a team who already had KOBE over the edge.
i am a little on the fence in terms of whether he will be better than rose or not. But in their prime, i would argue that lopez will at least be as good as DH. Asiansensation made a point about TD being dominant but not atheletic. The thing with loopez is that he has so much more fundamentals than DH. after 4-5 years now, DH still does not have a reliable back to the basket game. Loopez in a few years will develop a sound low block set of moves that would be hard to stop. anywa just my opinion
Tim Duncan IS athletic. Where do you get off assuming he wasn't? Duncan was the consensus number 1 pick in his draft, and dominated college when he was there. If he was a 7 foot stiff like Lopez you think he would have been that dominant even in the beginning? If Lopez and Duncan were so much alike how come Lopez didn't accomplish anything close to what Duncan did in college, in an age where the big men are watered down? At the draft scouts were wondering if Lopez could even cut it in the NBA, I doubt you'll find anyone saying that about Duncan.
Well the Bucks right now are 11-11. They might be breaking even, but that's even better than..wait for it...the worst start in history If Lopez was really as good as advertised how come their team lost 19 straight games with him playing major minutes? No one in recent years where that bad. Obviously a lot of that has to do with things that weren't in his control, but you have to be a moron to think he didn't have anything to do with it either. Where do you get this stuff about Gasol not being athletic or a good defender? You routinely have clips of Gasol running the fast breaks and dunking over people. And he didn't just put team Kobe over the edge...he made them legit contenders, the way KG made Celtics legit contenders. Its funny how you put down Gasol, but pump up Lopez when clearly Gasol at his worst was even better than what Lopez is doing now. Gasol's supporting cast over the years can be seen to be just as bad as Lopez now, but his teams were never in danger of going 0-19.
I never said either was a dominate players, I said Pau was not. IMO there are maybe 7-9 DOMINATE players in the nba. Also, Brooks is in his 2nd damn year with an incredibly untalented team. It took Durant 3 to become the dominate player I consider him today.
Why do you always say DOMINATE? Its dominant. HOWARD DOMINATEs. Lopez is not DOMINANT. Do you honestly watch Lakers basketball, or Grizzlies when Gasol was still there? No way would you call Gasol a mere "2nd Banana" if you were. He's option 1A on that team behind Kobe. Pretty darn DOMINANT IMHO. As for Lopez if you're gonna be dominant you should show flashes even in your first year in the league. What about Lopez screams dominant player? He's already pretty polished and can score on the block well already, its not like he's gonna tremendously improve skillwise. He's already a 7 footer, will he magically grow another 5 inches and be another Yao Ming? On the other hand his lack of lateral ability and explosiveness will forever be with him, there's no way he can get better on that no matter how much he stays in the league. As I said his lack of athleticism puts a lid on his ceiling as a player. He's no doubt already a decent player, but his ceiling will really be a bit below Bogut's level.
While were on the subject of grammar, his name is Brook Lopez, not Brooks Lopez. - Not directed at you obviously. Your post indicates to me that you haven't actually seen Lopez play much. He in fact doesn't have a very polished post game. He lacks a proper right handed hook shot, pretty much has no left hand except for a finger roll, doesn't use drop steps to his left and doesn't have a spin move. At this point Bogut has a much better offensive arsenal on the post. So yes, he is going to improve skillwise. His lateral quickness is excellent for a center, now I don't have any solid proof of this, but if you watch his defend - especially when he gets into position for a block, you will see that he has excellent lateral quickness. And I can't believe you said he lacks athleticism. The man has a 30.5 inch Max vert and more importantly a 27.5 inch no step vert, 27.5! Remember no step vert is arguably more important to Centers than max vert. Sure hes not an athletic freak but to put things into perspective Dwight Howards no step vert is 30.5, Lamarcus Aldridges is 26.5 and Channing Frye and Bogut have the same no step vert as Lopez. He has all the tools to become a dominant center - Great hands (and i mean great, great hands cause he catches everything you send his way), High basketball IQ, Moves well without the ball, Has a solid midrange shot and most importantly he establishes great position in the post and its probably his best skill. He gets low, and deep in the post and then seals his man perfectly. Lopez is one of the easiest post players to get the ball to, and thats what hides his lack of post moves and leads people to believe he has a polished post game. But you might be right, Andrew Bogut might actually have a higher ceiling than Lopez - I rate Bogut pretty highly I just wish hed get the hell out of Milwaukee and join a decent team with a good offense, he could easily be a 20/10 guy in any decent offense.
